The present invention generally relates to the field of communication systems, more particularly to communicating content over wireless channels.
Communication systems that communicate voice and data messages are extensively used in telephony and wireless communication systems. For example, European Telecommunication Standard Institute (ETSI) has specified a Global Standard for Mobile Communication (GSM) that uses time division multiple access (TDMA) to communicate control, voice and data information over wireless radio frequency (RF) channels. In the U.S., Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) has published a number of Interim Standards, such as IS-136, that define various versions of digital advanced mobile phone service (D-AMPS), and analog advanced mobile phone service (A-AMPS), with the capability of transmitting voice and data to subscribers.
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a non-voice value added service that allows information to be sent and received across GSM as well as the IS-136 systems. GPRS supplements today""s Circuit Switched Data and Short Message Service (SMS) of the GSM at theoretical maximum speeds of up to 171.2 kilobits per second (kbps) using eight timeslots at the same time. Because of the spectrum efficiency of GPRS, there is less need to build in idle capacity that is only used in peak hours. GPRS therefore lets network operators maximize the use of their network resources in a dynamic and flexible way, along with user access to resources and revenues.
GPRS involves overlaying a packet based air interface on the existing circuit switched GSM network, thereby giving end users an option to use a packet-based data service. With GPRS, the information is split into separate but related xe2x80x9cpacketsxe2x80x9d before being transmitted and reassembled at a receiving end. Because of packet switching configuration of GPRS, radio resources are used only when end users are actually sending or receiving data. Rather than dedicating a radio channel to an end user communication device for a fixed period of time, the available radio resource can be concurrently shared between several communication devices, thereby allowing a large number of GPRS users to share the same bandwidth within a single cell. The actual number of users supported depends on the application being used and how much data is being transferred.
High immediacy is a very important feature for time critical applications. Subject to radio coverage, GPRS also facilitates instant connections whereby information can be sent or received immediately as the need arises. GPRS also facilitates new applications not previously available over GSM networks due to the limitations in speed of Circuit Switched Data (9.6 kbps) and message length of the Short Message Service (160 characters). For example, GPRS enables Mobile Internet functionality by allowing inter-working between the existing Internet and a GPRS-enabled network. As such, any service that is used over the fixed Internet today, for example, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), web browsing, chat, email, telnet, can also be available over the GPRS-enabled network.
The World Wide Web is becoming the primary communications interface, with users accessing the Internet for entertainment and information collection, the intranet for accessing company information and connecting with colleagues, and the extranet for accessing customers and suppliers. Hence, web browsing and providing web content are two important applications for GPRS. Because GPRS uses the same protocols as the Internet, the GPRS network can be viewed as a sub-network of the Internet with GPRS-enabled communication devices being viewed as mobile hosts. This means that each of the GPRS-enabled communication devices can have its own EP address and be addressable as such.
It is known to transmit content comprised of data packets to communication devices over wireless channels. Conventional systems however communicate tailored content to communication devices that have known functionality. In other words, the features of the communicated content is tailored to the functionality level of each of the communication devices. With the wide spread acceptance of communication devices, the manufacturers offer such devices on various platforms with different degrees of processing and display functionality. As a result, the content can not be easily tailored to support all of the available functionality levels the of communication devices. Consequently, depending on the functionality level, full features of the content can not be presented to all end users. For example, a communication device may not be able to support the functionally of the incoming content data or simply may not be able to process the data at the incoming data rate.
When data packets representing a graphical content, for example, a moving graphic content, are sent to a communication device at a rate defined by a sender, a basic communication device may not have the processing capability to properly present the content to the end user. Even a more advanced communication device may not be able to communicate with the sender at a required data rate because of its proximity to the sender. In either case, the sender, which is unaware of the capability of the various communication devices, is forced to transmit the data packets without regards to whether the associated content of the packets are properly presented to end users. The ambiguity in transmitting complex data at random data rates leads to errors that result in termination of data transfer for some end users, with the generated errors also significantly contributing to inefficient use of valuable radio bandwidth due to retransmissions caused by the errors.
Accordingly, there exists a need to properly present content that is communicated over wireless channels to end users with optimum use of the radio bandwidth.